Andy Peddar

🏛️ Local Government Leaders: Are you facing current or Council Financial challenges? With structural reforms and budget pressures mounting, councils across the UK need more than traditional approaches—they need strategic resilience. Resilience360 champions local authorities through rapid, comprehensive assessments that reveal the true health of your financial systems and data architecture. 🔍 We help you: Identify hidden inefficiencies in your financial processes. Spot critical resilience gaps before they turn into issues. Design transformation pathways customised to your requirements. Improve data efficiency for enhanced decision-making. Facilitate strategic governance that safeguards future operations. Our targeted assessment tools and integration mapping deliver actionable insights that establish financial assurance, drive evidence-based decisions, and position your authority for sustainable investment. The result? Low-cost, high-value planning that creates a foundation for integrated finance strategy and organisational transformation. Because every council deserves the resilience to thrive, not just survive. #LocalGovernment #PublicSector #FinancialResilience #CouncilTransformation #PublicFinance #LocalAuthorities #Civica

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Had such a great time joining Craig on The Sim Tech Podcast with Ahmed 🎙️ We chatted about what we’re building at MedAscend and how AI avatars can help make communication-based simulation more accessible, realistic, and useful for learners - and even did a live demo! Thanks so much for having us, Craig! 🙌🏼

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National Coding Week 2025 National Coding Week is a UK-based initiative that encourages people to develop their digital skills by learning to code. The event was founded in 2014 by former headteacher Richard Rolfe and tech entrepreneur Jordan Love, with the goal of reducing the digital skills gap and inspiring more people to explore the world of coding. During the week, various events and workshops are organized across the UK and beyond, providing an accessible platform for beginners and experienced coders alike to enhance their skills and creativity. The Magikos IT Team

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Don't just chase grants... Some fantastic advice from Rachel Fletcher in our recent interview. Watch the full video to find out the full detail, but the short version is that the grant provider will always be looking for an outcome and that might not align with the direction you want your business to go. That being said, if the outcomes do marry up with your vision then they are a fantastic way to inject some cash and grow your business. You can find an invaluable grant finding resource on the FCS Associates Ltd website here: https://lnkd.in/e6RQ2KQ6 and Rachel sends out a regular grant bulletin that you can subscribe to here: https://lnkd.in/eMwKNfkB Don't forget, the Barnsley StartUp MeetUp will return in September so if you're missing your fix then head over to the YouTube channel and brush up on some of the awesome guests I've interviewed: https://lnkd.in/dygNzNg5 Enterprising Barnsley Barnsley Council South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority South Yorkshire Incubator and Accelerator Network Sheffield Digital TECH SY DMC

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Yesterday I joined Phil Moseley to facilitate a discussion with some of England’s largest FE providers that work together with us and use benchmarking collaboratively. The discussions were powerful, and reinforced for me a fundamental reason for drawing comparisons. If we look at data through the same lens, it's not about imposing a one size fits all model, but it allows us to see where we are different and why, and whether this is right for mission, strategic direction and sustainability. Phil is at the Association of Colleges conference today.

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The local governance of AIED services will be the subject of my talk at the forthcoming UKSG webinar on the 23rd of April. The talk is tailored to anyone working in a library setting in a further education college or university, and to colleagues who wish to learn more about the local governance of AIED services. https://lnkd.in/e8S7Jmem The following slide from my presentation highlights the PARTNER framework that I started to develop during my PhD journey. The framework is designed to support stakeholders in education settings to design, develop / procure, use and manage AIED services through a co-design and participatory approach. Local governance exists on a spectrum. At one end, institutions design and develop bespoke AIED services tailored to their specific needs and contexts; at the other, they procure off-the-shelf solutions. The position an institution takes along this spectrum inevitably shapes its capacity to effectively govern, manage and oversee its AI services. The PARTNER framework offers libraries and academic support teams in colleges and universities the opportunity to manage these services through a co-design and participatory approach.

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I'm extremely proud of the Blackout Technologies team. The recognition below proves something important: there is a smarter way to ban smartphones in schools. Blackout's Impact Assessment Report has so many useful insights for teachers, parents and policy makers. The new UK law on smartphones is clear on outcomes, but not how to get there. Pouches and lockers are one approach - but they’re not the only one! Blackout delivers measurable results without queues, disruption, or eco waste. Blackout is turning smartphones into bricks during the school day - digitally, seamlessly, and at scale. This is about solving a digital problem with a digital solution. Myself and the team are grateful to the school leaders who want to make this change with us. The future of classroom focus doesn’t need friction - it needs smarter systems ! Blackout Education Impact Assessment Report (Jan 2026): https://lnkd.in/eMcYNYFU

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This is a great example of a Finance Shared Service powered by Integra software that helped to drive down costs and create real economies of scale. Worth attending if you can.

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🧑‍🤝‍🧑 What if communities could use shared information as data currency to unlock truly preventative local services, instead of today’s reactive ones? I had a brilliant conversation this week with a local authority leader who wants to empower residents to share more information with each other and with the council. Not for monitoring, but for insight, trust, and earlier support. For years, tech in local government has solved isolated problems. The result: siloed systems, transactional journeys, and services that can only respond once things go wrong. It’s time to shift the question from: ❌ How do we digitise this process? to ✔️ How do we help communities connect, collaborate, and share insight that prevents crises? When local communities can share information more easily 🗣️ When neighbours, voluntary groups, and professionals see a clearer picture 👀 When councils can spot patterns earlier 🔍 Information becomes data currency that powers prevention in: 👵 Social care 🏠 Homelessness 🛡️ Community safety Imagine identifying risk before crisis ⚠️ Coordinating support earlier 🤝 Building stronger, more resilient communities 🌱 This is the future of local public services. Technology not as a form or a portal, but as an enabler of connected communities and preventative support. Jay Dudley David Pugsley Amanda Cwietkow Scott Lauder Jason Daniel Iraia Oianguren

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Openplan Flow is now live in seven Local Authorities, where it’s being used in day‑to‑day planning services. We’re confident the approach translates to other casework‑focused environments, in local government and beyond, and have begun exploring what a next delivery partnership might look like... https://lnkd.in/ekUx8txs #CaseBasedServices #ServiceImprovement #OperationalHealth #PublicSectorInnovation #ConsultancyLife #EvidenceBasedDecisionMaking

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Transform Your University's Digital Future in 14 Weeks! In a rapidly changing educational landscape, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. We recently partnered with a leading UK university to modernise their systems and build a compelling business case in just 14 weeks. From fragmented user experiences to outdated design philosophies, we tackled it all! Discover how our structured approach turned a complex replacement into a confident, funded program. Download the full case study here https://bit.ly/4lv5wbt

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Are we thinking about productivity all wrong? The UK is falling behind its G7 peers when it comes to productivity. But how do SMEs really feel about it? Today we’re launching our new report, Work that Works, a deep dive into what productivity really looks like for UK SMEs in 2025. We spoke to over 2,000 business leaders and employees across the country. What we found surprised me. Job satisfaction is the #1 driver of productivity — but it’s often missing from leadership priorities Feeling recognised reduces retention issues by 40% — yet it’s among the least valued by employers 1 in 3 SMEs are in “survival mode” - so how can they grow? Our new report highlights that productivity isn’t just about hours or outputs.  It’s about how we work.  How we feel, and the value we create every day. If we want to solve the productivity puzzle, I really believe we need to stop measuring work the old way and start building workplaces that actually work. Download the full Works That Work report here: https://lnkd.in/gckwbuYm Employment Hero

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Labour costs have overtaken economic uncertainty as the primary operational concern for UK SMEs. ONS published that finding on 19 February. 36% of firms with 10 to 75 employees now cite it as their biggest challenge. Economic uncertainty sits at 30%. The distinction matters more than the numbers suggest. When uncertainty leads, firms wait. When labour costs lead, the pressure is structural. It does not ease with a rate cut or a better quarter. It compounds. Same payroll. Same NI liability. Higher cost floor, no corresponding lift in output, unless the operation changes. For a 40-person firm with a four-person sales team, that pressure lands in one place: the gap between what each rep costs and what each rep produces. If 70% of their time goes on non-selling activity, the effective cost per selling hour is not their salary divided by 40. It is their salary divided by 12. Looking across a batch of firms this week, the ones already adjusting are not cutting headcount. They are changing what each head does per hour. When you consider what the person costs, what the business can absorb, and what the market will reward, the case for staying effort-led becomes difficult to defend. The ONS data is not a headline. It is a diagnostic. Is your operation priced on 40 hours or 12?

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I look forward to joining the panel at the is event in Thursday. My message will be simple... CarefulAI was the first independent AI Assurance and Risk Mitigation firm in the world focusing on regulated sectors. It leads on the use of AI native risk mitigation tools. We set up in Wales. As it is the best place to innovate. If you want to understand what your journey would be like in Walea, and what value we and others add ask your questions at the event on Thursday. We look forward to meeting you. https://lnkd.in/eVHvBJuT Sarah Jones Alex Smith

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